Transport close to shortened line emptied out (7)
I believe the answer is:
shuttle
'transport' is the definition.
(shuttle is a kind of transport)
'close to shortened line emptied out' is the wordplay.
'close' becomes 'shut' (synonyms).
'shortened' means to remove the last letter.
'emptied out' means to remove the middle letters (the inside letters are emptied out).
'line' with its centre taken out is 'le'.
'to' with its final letter removed is 't'.
'shut'+'t'+'le'='SHUTTLE'
(Other definitions for shuttle that I've seen before include "Travel back and forth between two points" , "Transport regularly plying short route" , "NASA space transport" , "It moves from side to side on the loom" , "Weaving loom bobbin" .)